The long and pedally Spring Classics thread. Gent Wevelgem sportive

[Mr Moofo]

You are ruining Crust’s chances of pulling

[Beancounter]

How did it go? Did Crust pull?

[weeksy]

He was a beast. Reports later. Just back

[weeksy]

SO how was Belgium.... Belgium itself was a lovely lovely place. Never been anywhere so quiet, tranquil, clean and tidy.... every car was washed, every person was dressed nicely and they were all exceptionally polite. I'd move there

HOw was the ride.... well, the simple answer is, it was long... long and fairly blowy...

Friday we rocked up at the AirBNB and were met with chickens, cockrels and horses... proper middle of nowhere, but hey that's what i booked and why i booked it. Lovely...
We then rode 25km to Harelbeke down the river, lovely little ride. We watched all of the E3 Saxo Bank Classic and got to see the local hero Wout Van Aert cruise to victory. We were many many beers in and the ride back was eventful.... but we stopped for beers half way back on Kortrijk just to top up the levels of beer. All the day was properly ticking off the Bucket List of the Belgian Spring classics, chips, mayo, beers, sausages.... and of course the racing with the very passionate Belgians.

Sat we got up early doors to a slightly frosty morning, but lovely and sunny.
As we were riding to Wevelgem i'm thinking to myself "this ain't right, my crank feels wobbly"
As we pulled into the start i checked and yes it was.... I walked over and asked the support guys for a socket and he quickly tightened the crank bolt up. Job done (or not)
It's a 6km ride to the start in Wevelgem and we cruised up there and signed on, jumped onto the route which even though wasn't on closed roads, every junction for the first 10km was marshalled and the cyclists given right of way. The ride rolled it's way through the back lanes and farm lanes, it's hard to describe as we don't have them so much in the UK, but there's a LOT of fields in Belgium and they all have fairly well serviced/built roads through them. Single lane but fairly decent tarmac mostly. The miles ticked along nicely and the feed stations were well stocked. We struggled to find groups to jump on with overall, sometimes we'd get a wheel, but not often. When you could, it was great and you'd pick up 2-3kmh speed.
When discussing it, there was talk on forums of "you see all sorts of people and bikes", maybe that's true on the short routes, there's a 48km and a 64km as well as a 96km and then the 141km and the 226km. However on the 141 and the 226, you see only 1 type of bike and 1 type of rider, expensive carbon road bikes and 6'5" tall Belgian beasts lol. They monster out of the corners and get staright back to speed. It's mostly OK but at times i was closing the gap so Crust could get the wheel and working hard, so i'd ease off and we'd let that group go.
Into Ypres was one of the highlights of the weekend and riding through the Menin Gate and the town was epic. We stopped for the feed station and took the place in.

Eventually we got to the climby part of the ride, about 70km now and they then come thick and fast, the Banberg was one, not sure if that was the road one or the gravel one with the windmill on it... we then roll up, down, up down till we hit the climb we thought was the lead-in for the Kemmelberg, but it wasn't.. it was another tough little climb and then eventually we came to Kemmel village,... it's a slog up to the start of the climb proper and you're clicking through the gears faster than you'd like.
When you hit the climb you realise just how big and spaced the cobbles are, you get your wheels caught in the gaps and struggle for traction. I think i saw 4-5 riders hitting the floor coming unstuck, or not unstuck with their fancy road pedals... I got to the top of it, but yeah it was a tough bugger.
We celebrated with a brandy at the top and rolled into the next feed stop.

After that is where the ride went wrong really as it seemed the wind had decided to come out and play and the flags were flapping hard, straight into our faces.. Which was a bit of a problem as the last 25 miles or so were all the same direction and all directly into the headwind.
It became a slog, like a proper proper slog. We hit the Plugstreets, which is basically the Ridgeway/SDW type hard pack, not a massive issue in itself. That was possibly the major highlight for me as we could see 100 bikes scattered on the lanes ahead of us, all driving on the hardpack, was a great sight. Then it got fairly roadie again and into the wind of hell, blowing, blowing... A couple of times Crust jumped on a wheel of a passing rider/bunch and i said "fuck that, i'm not playing..." let him go... eventually he looked back and saw i'd gone and waited by easing off.

An emergency ice-cream stop came next and we had roughly 17 miles left. I then found a bit of energy and was pushing along at a reasonable lick, we'd picked up 3 other riders who decided my wheel was the one for them and i seemed to tow the bunch for about 10 miles lol... me on the little hybrid towing the roadies... you had to laugh.

4km to go a car went to pull out of a parking space and i slipped through the traffic and lost my group, including Crust... i was tempted to pin it, well, sorta. But i eased and waited for my gang and they jumped on my wheel again. Right until 350m from the line, lots of spectators etc and a few bikes came past and pinned it, so i jumped and went for the line and left my day buddies in the dust... Not knowing that Crust had planned us rolling over together... oops.
Highlight was when going to the bike park, the young girl was cutting off my cable ties and said "have you really just done the 141km on THAT ! " i had to laugh... Most of the bikes had more expensive rear mechs than my whole bike which was £379 new lol.

The rest of the day/evening was beer fuelled.. Along with another wobbly crank, maybe the techie guy hadn't tightened it enough, dunno... Got back to our farm and borrowed a socket again, tightening it to about 70Nm this time... I thought that was the end of the debate but it blighted the rest of the trip and was now coming apart every 10km. But it didn't matter, the big one was done.

Sunday we went to Ypres to watch the start of the Pro race, which was packed. Coffee, chats and then managed to catch the end of the U23 race which was fast, frantic and crashy... down to the line was 3-4deg of decline and they flew !

We then went back to get the wobbly bike out and went to watch the end of the pro race... which wasn't due for 3 hours, so it was beers, burgers, beers and beers... lots of chats in the bars with lads who'd also ridden the 141 yesterday and watching the Wanty ride power away for the win, it was properly deserved !

More beers and beer cherryade for Crust... massive pasta..

Came back this morning... box well and truly ticked.

Would i do it again, heck no, road riding is garbage... lol.

[Crosshair]

Great write up
Sounds like a fun trip even if the ride wasn’t for you.

[Mr Moofo]

Well done,
Great experience - but you forgot to mention what shit drivers the Belgians are!
And yes, road riding is shit

[weeksy]

Well done,
Great experience - but you forgot to mention what shit drivers the Belgians are!
And yes, road riding is shit

Got to disagree, the drivers were bloody fabulous all weekend.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

I find it hard to believe there are well surfaced roads in Belgium, I've never seen any that meet that description.

[weeksy]

I find it hard to believe there are well surfaced roads in Belgium, I've never seen any that meet that description.

Better than UK. Of that there's little doubt.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

I find it hard to believe there are well surfaced roads in Belgium, I've never seen any that meet that description.

Better than UK. Of that there's little doubt.

20 years ago they were about the same state as the UK is now, and thought to be the worst in Northern Europe.
Which says more about the UK than Belgium.

[weeksy]

I find it hard to believe there are well surfaced roads in Belgium, I've never seen any that meet that description.

Better than UK. Of that there's little doubt.

20 years ago they were about the same state as the UK is now, and thought to be the worst in Northern Europe.
Which says more about the UK than Belgium.

Sure, but this weekend I was there, you know, on them. Driving, cycling, walking, on them.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

Better than UK. Of that there's little doubt.

20 years ago they were about the same state as the UK is now, and thought to be the worst in Northern Europe.
Which says more about the UK than Belgium.

Sure, but this weekend I was there, you know, on them. Driving, cycling, walking, on them.

I'm not doubting you, just surprised that the roads in Belgium are good.

[Count Steer]

Lived and worked there. Never had reason to think either the drivers or the roads were bad. Some of the roads were actually tip top. The main motorway ring around Brussels was a bit tired in places but mainly on the really, really heavily used sections.

Really enjoyed the place, food, people, the lot.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

Went there in 2005, ride from the Hook of Holland to Namur and back, the roads went downhill after crossing from the Netherlands, and stayed that way to Namur, especially horrible around Leuven, but it was raining and snowed the next day.

People were nice, food was good.

I used to go to Bruges and Brussels quite a bit in the early 90s, but that was by ferry and train.

[weeksy]

2022-03-27_05-58-31 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

2022-03-28_07-26-36 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

2022-03-28_07-26-42 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

2022-03-28_07-27-16 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

2022-03-28_07-27-27 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

2022-03-28_07-27-35 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

2022-03-28_07-27-49 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

2022-03-28_07-28-00 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

2022-03-28_07-28-10 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

2022-03-28_07-28-45 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

[Couchy]

Much as I have no interest in road riding it looks a good weekend

[Hairybiker84]

Well done, Belgium is awesome. Paris - Roubaix sportive is well worth doing too.

[weeksy]

Well done, Belgium is awesome. Paris - Roubaix sportive is well worth doing too.

I hear you, but it's still very very roadie based. This really was a box ticking thing for the series I love watching, but it never sparked any desire to road ride.

[weeksy]

2022-05-06_06-03-24 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

[Crosshair]

Great pic